Maybe, just maybe, the judges scored it right
Posted: Sunday March 14, 1999 10:55 AM
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Holyfield said he had no "plan B" for his knockout prediction. AP |
By Albert Lin, CNN/SI
NEW YORK -- Let's begin by saying that Evander Holyfield clearly didn't take this fight seriously.
He was so sure he would knock Lennox Lewis out in the third round that he even admitted to not having a Plan B. During the prefight introductions, Lewis stood glaring while Holyfield smiled throughout. Holyfield handed Lewis the first two rounds by throwing practically no punches. When the bell sounded ending the third round -- Lewis still standing -- Holyfield mouthed, "Damn!" and seemed genuinely puzzled that his prediction hadn't come true. It took several more rounds before Holyfield realized that he'd better actually start boxing.
The numbers reflect what most felt was Lewis' dominance: He landed 218 more total punches, including 135 more jabs and twice as many power punches (161-78). Holyfield connected on less than 10 punches in half of the rounds. Lewis started strong, winning the first two rounds (on all three judges' cards), and finished strong, taking the 12th (likewise). He raised his fist after the 11th round and pumped it in the air several times following the final bell.
Everyone thought they knew who the new undisputed heavyweight champion was. Except the judges disagreed. The Garden exploded in a collective groan when the draw was announced, and VIPs showed who they favored by applauding Lewis when he entered the post-fight interview area. Holyfield even acknowledged Lewis' performance, saying that everything worked well for the bigger man while nothing seemed to go smoothly for him.
But looking back, maybe the judges' weren't watching the wrong fight, as some suggested. You read that correctly -- maybe the judges were right.
How could this be? Well, we know Lewis won Rounds 1, 2 and 12. We know Holyfield won Round 3. During Rounds 4-7, Holyfield still seemed to be getting up to speed, so for the sake of argument let's award all those rounds to Lewis. But starting in Round 8, Lewis began backing up and Holyfield became the aggressor. In team-sports lingo, Lewis played not to lose rather than to win. Even though Holyfield never hurt Lewis, boxers are generally penalized for sitting on their hands. So if we give those four rounds to Holyfield, the final tally is seven rounds to five, Lewis, or 115-113, assuming 10-9 scoring in each round.
Now if just one of those middle rounds (4-7) had gone to Holyfield instead, we'd have a draw. And it wouldn't have been that much of a stretch to give, say, Round 6 -- in which each fighter landed one good shot but not much else -- to Holyfield. The fact is, there wasn't all that much action in any of those rounds, yet by the time Round 8 arrived Lewis felt he had built an insurmountable lead and began to relax, even dropping his hands and taunting Holyfield from time to time. His trainer, Emanuel Steward, said that Lewis "played with [Holyfield] when he wanted to."
Maybe he should've been more concerned with finishing him off. The one coherent thing promoter Don King said afterward was that next time Lewis will know that when you hurt someone, you have to try to end the fight. By not going in for the KO when Holyfield was dazed, Lewis left the outcome in doubt.
"Watching a lot of his tapes, that's how Evander Holyfield suckers people in," Lewis said. "And I didn't want to get suckered. I just wanted to win [on points] hands down. He was using his experience, trying to draw me in."
Chalk one up for Holyfield's experience. Because although he may have answered any doubts about his ability, Lewis' cautious approach hurt him. With no 10-8 rounds, each three-minute unit was like one hole in match-play golf -- self-contained, with no regard to what has happened previously.
And that's how we reconcile the punch stats: While Lewis won some rounds convincingly, Holyfield for the most part captured points by default because Lewis wasn't doing anything. It might be a cheap way to salvage a fight, but a round counts the same no matter how you take it.
So perhaps, just perhaps, the draw wasn't such a farfetched notion after all.
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